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When President Dwight D. Eisenhower's plan for building the Interstate System and other highways was under consideration in Congress in 1955 and 1956, one of his leading supporters was Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut.
An imposing figure, Bush stood 6 feet 4 inches tall and had a...
The Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987 (STURAA) was widely seen in Congress and the transportation community as the last authorization bill of the Interstate era. The Interstate System was 97.5 percent open to traffic (41,759 miles of the 42,797 designated...
Reprinted, with permission of the Eno Transportation Foundation, Washington, DC, from Transportation Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 1, January 1991 (pages 55-66). Copyright 1991 Eno Transportation Foundation.
Elizabeth Parker
Ms. Parker has been...
The Golden Gate Bridge, the symbol of San Francisco, is not on the Interstate System. It carries U.S. 101 across the bay.
On June 14, 1846, Captain John Frémont declared California's independence from Mexico. He had no right to do so, but he nevertheless raised the banner of the Bear...
One of the universal truths is that road construction is dependent on the materials at hand. At one time or another, almost every material common to an area has been tried by road builders. Roads of sand and clay are an example.
Sand-clay road construction was one of the common methods...
The Rambler wrote the following in 1989 after actually getting out of the office, walking Pennsylvania Avenue, and taking notes along the way. The Rambler saw no need for an...
The Rambler has long followed a simple rule: if you have to go outside to write about it, don't write about it. The Rambler violated that rule only once, in June 1989, and this website has decided to blow the whistle on him...
Mardis Gras? Fats Domino? Gris-gris?
The Rambler couldn't care less. As far as The Rambler is concerned, the only point about New Orleans is its transportation history. So anyone looking for a travel guide to the best bars in New Orleans-look elsewhere!
Let's get something straight: Baltimore was not the terminus of the National Road! The initial road went from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, Virginia (later West Virginia). It was eventually extended west to Vandalia, Illinois. It didn't go east to Baltimore.
The Rambler wishes to...
All forms of transportation are risky. Stagecoaching was no exception. The condition of the roads-and the drivers-ensured that. Two famous 19th century writers left accounts of their own perils on travels around the United States.
Charles Dickens, the most famous British...